singlelogbridge | Inbox: Ximilia

[His tentative agreement had him tensing up, but the moment the question is out, he feels most of the tension slipping away, replaced instead by something considering and a little melancholy. There is no anger in his expression and he doesn't go on the defense. He's quiet for a long time, his gaze flickering between her face and then back to the reach of ocean before them.]

That question...I don't know. I don't think of it that way at all. There's just...no place for me there. [If he hadn't taken his own life, he'd have been killed. There was no question about it. And if he'd somehow hidden away...where would he go? What would he do? Everything was lost. He didn't want to live through the grief of losing his third family. There was only so much one person could take.]

I told you how I died. I didn't tell you why. I didn't tell you the rest of it. [He sighs and wilts a bit, shaking his head.]

Telling you is the only way you'll understand, but...it's not a nice story, Gwen.

〈 she smiles wanly. 〉

I just told you I killed the boy who loved me. There aren't nice stories here.

[He searches her gaze for a long moment and then nods, pausing to figure out where to start.

And, well. He supposes there's really only one starting point.]

Cultivators develop golden cores. [He places a hand over his navel, his eyes gone far away.] The source of all their power, a glowing orb of golden light inside of them. The thing that makes them cultivators.

There was a war and I. I lost mine. I have no spiritual power. I'm not really a cultivator anymore. Not like Zewu-jun or Huaisang. I lost mine and I couldn't fight. Couldn't be anything. I became a mortal among gods. [His lips pull up with slight humor that doesn't reach his eyes.] And the war raged on. What was left of my family was at risk. My sister. My brother. All of my friends.

I couldn't stay useless. So I found another way. An alternative form of cultivation. The "Ghost Path." Demonic cultivation. I cultivated resentful energy instead of spiritual. The energy of the dead.

It was taboo. Known to be volatile and hard to control. Dangerous and hated. Heretical even. But it gave me the power I needed to fight again. It gave me the power to win the war, and all of the great sects rallied behind it. I made a weapon then using resentful energy. A tool to enhance my power.

And I won the war for them. For my family. For everyone I loved. [He pauses for a moment, his eyes far away.]

〈 quietly, she reaches for his hand, like he had for her. she squeezes his fingers in encouragement. 〉

[He squeezes back and fixes her with a faint smile.]

When the war was over, when the tyrant who had waged it was dead, they started to clean up after him. First his soldiers, then his aides and palace staff. Anyone directly connected. After that...anyone at all from his bloodline, no matter how far removed. It didn't matter if they'd fought in the war or not. It didn't matter if they were cultivators at all. The elderly, the sick. Women and children. All of them.

Some were shot down in the streets running for their lives. Others were taken to prison camps where they were experimented on, tortured, and murdered.

[He takes a deep breath and gently disentangles their hands.]

My best friend Wen Qing, she was one of them. She'd been separated from her brother. We tracked him down to one of those camps and I took them. All of them. I took all of those refugees who were left and I defected. I took them away. That's where I met a-Yuan. I took him out of that place.

[He sighs and shakes his head, chasing the memories away.]

Between that and my demonic cultivation, I became enemy number one. We wanted to live in peace, Gwen. That was all we wanted. [But that wasn't how it worked out in the end.]

We lived on a mountainside for two years before everything went wrong. Me and Wen Ning—Wen Qing's brother and my loyal friend—we were going to see my sister and her new son. We were ambushed on the way, and I...

Well, there's a reason demonic cultivation is taboo. I said it was hard to control, didn't I? [He swallows hard and remembers that day.] My sister's husband came to stop them, but I'd lost control. I killed him. Him and everyone else.

[He doesn't have the energy or desire to go into the details of everything else. Not now. So he only opens his eyes again and stares out into the water with a weary look on his face.]

Everything spiraled out of control after that. The Wen were executed. A-Yuan was saved and hidden away, I learned only a little bit ago, but everyone else was gone. They desecrated their bodies like they were criminals. I saw them all hanging from the walls...my family.

So I went to where the great sects were gathered. One against a couple thousand. They were going to come for me anyway.

And then my sister came to the battlefield. She came to find me. She came because she was worried about me. And she died there, saving me.

〈 it proves startling how many parallels they share. she knew they were similar: their sense of humor, their love of music, many of the ways they cope. but for each aspect they share, there is another they do not. like a variation on a piece. like discordant notes, jarring to the ear. 〉

And you just wanted it to stop, 〈 she remembers quietly.

a sentiment she is intimately familiar with—though she did not reach the extreme he did. 〉

Edited 2022-08-31 00:05 (UTC)

My sister was dead in my brother's arms. My brother wanted me dead. The sects had gathered there to plot how they would kill me.

I wanted peace. I wanted not to hurt anymore. I would have died that night no matter what, Gwen.

I had no reason to stay.

So, your deal with the orb…?

It took me a while to figure out. [He says, and it's almost a whisper.]

The cogs of war were set into motion even before I was born. It can't be stopped and if I don't turn to demonic cultivation, we lose. How do I save my family and the Wens, Gwen? It's impossible. [He exhales.]

If I don't defect, my family will be safe. But the Wens will be slaughtered. My a-Yuan, will die. Wen Qing and Wen Ning. Everyone.

So I settled on the ambush. A difference of three days. The Jins get what they want. Shijie's husband will be safe. There'll be no battle three days later for her to perish. And if I am very lucky, Lan Zhan will have time to fight for the Wens.

It's the best chance they have and only a difference of three days for me. If my death can save them, it'll be worth it. I can move onto the next life knowing I did what I could.

〈 stupid, good-hearted wei wuxian. gwen looks away. 〉

You know…after the way you reacted? When I asked you the first time?

〈 a little, rueful huff. she shakes her head. 〉

I was really afraid you’d taken the opportunity to erase yourself.

[He huffs a little under his breath, smiling sadly and shaking his head. He doesn't tell her that in the moment he'd struck the deal, if he'd thought that would have worked, he might have done it. Everything was fresh then. It doesn't reflect who he is now.]

I like being alive. And even if my time as Wei Wuxian will be at an end when I leave here, I want my soul to go on. I'd like another chance I think, to be better.

〈 the corner of her mouth quirks. 〉

Has anyone told you about Schrödinger's cat? 〈 at his denial, she explains, 〉 It’s a thought experiment in quantum mechanics. Super-imposition or some shit. Other-me explained it to me, and you’re going to get the simplified version because I am nowhere near as smart.

〈 she holds her hands in front of her. black ribbons bleed between them into the outline of a cube. another ribbon forms into a miniature cat rendered in exquisite detail. 〉

In the experiment, a cat is placed in a box with a lid. Inside, there is also a radioactive atom. 〈 guided by her memory, venom shapes into a stylized, three-dimensional model of an atom to join the cat now grooming itself inside the cube. 〉 If the atom decays, 〈 the atom’s nucleus splits with a violent pulse, 〉 the radioactivity will kill the cat. If the atom remains stable, though, 〈 the nucleus reforms, surrounded by its orbiting electrons, 〉 cat lives.

The catch, 〈 she continues, 〉 is no one can know what will happen to the atom. So, until you open the lid, the cat is alive and dead at the same time. It’s not until someone opens the lid that you collapse the possibilities down to one.

〈 venom sinks back into its amorphous shape and streams around her arms. gwen watches it vanish beneath her skin. 〉

A paradox. Macabre and weird, but… I get it. Infinite possibilities that can all change in a single moment. Wrong person opens the lid, and we’re dead cats. While the lid is closed, though…right now, we have nothing but endless possibility.

Edited 2022-08-31 15:25 (UTC)

[Even with the few unfamiliar terms, it's an easy enough concept to grasp, and one made even easier with the visuals that Gwen provides. The cat isn't actually physically alive and dead, (not like Wen Ning) and yet without opening the lid it remains both. As if fate had not yet taken its course.

It is, he thinks, a very clever concept.]

Endless possibility...[His eyes drift back into the fathoms of water and he smiles, faint but sincere.]

I like that. [And perhaps he doesn't have that, not endless possibilities anyway, not with his karma, but...there's hope.]

I don't know what'll happen to me after this. What I'll become in my next life. I do know that I'm better for having ended up here. And for having met you. [He smiles at her, soft and heartfelt.]

〈 touched, she looks down, a faint pink coloring her cheeks. she rubs one of her frills between her fingers.

gwen does not know if she believes in any concept of an afterlife—others do, and she has seen people die and come back—not for her, at least. not when she kicks the bucket. when she thinks of her own death, she thinks of nothing at all. it is an oddly welcoming premise.

even so, the concept of reincarnation is a sweet one. even when it goes wrong, people have the option to try again. to learn. to do better.

which she proceeds to ruin (make better?) with a joke. 〉

We covered that, didn’t we? You’ll be Gonzo. Blue, covered in fur, long, hooked nose that kinda looks like a beak; species, “Whatever.”

[There's already amusement dancing in his eyes when she starts to talk about Gonzo, but when she gets to his species, Wei Wuxian absolutely loses it, letting out a belly aching laugh. It's impossible to see in the water, but he's laughing hard enough he's crying.]

Is that really his species? Amazing! I definitely want to be Gonzo in my next life!

I think I'd look good blue, don't you? [he shakes his head, shoulders still shaking with laughter.] Whatever. [Help, he's laughing again.]

〈 so, she is missing a joke here. but at least wei wuxian is happy. 〉

I know my Muppets, and I know you, dork. 〈 (fond.) 〉

I know you do. [Said softly, affection in his smile.]

Hey. About what I said about meeting you. I'm really bad at this sappy stuff, but before one of my friends died, she told me something important.

She said, in life there are two important phrases you have to learn to say to people. 'I'm sorry and thank you.' [His smile wobbles, sorrow creeping into the corners.]

This isn't that exactly, but after E23-b I realized one of us could just disappear without ever getting to say goodbye. I didn't know that before. [His words go quiet and he lets out a thoughtful hum.]

Now I do so I'm telling you. Even if that happens, to you or to me. Even if we don't remember any of this, it was meaningful. My soul will remember you even if my mind doesn't. If I leave first, I want you to know that. And if you leave first, I think you'll still think of me whenever you watch the muppets even if you don't know that's what you're doing.

For being bad at it, you sure know how to sucker punch people with sappy shit, 〈 she jokes with a little quirk at the corner of her mouth. 〉

I felt really alone here my first months. Then, I met you. 〈 her smile widens. 〉 So, I'm sorry I'm a mess. And thank you for being my friend.

〈 lifting her hand, gwen cups his cheek. again, she is caught by how warm he feels: warmer than the water, warmer than she feels. a gentle pulse from her bell brings her closer. her hand curls beneath his jaw; her lips touch his cheek. 〉

Edited 2022-09-05 21:05 (UTC)

[He leans into the touch, his whole body warming at the press of those lips, from his heart to the edges of his fins. When she's pulled away, he holds one hand out for her to take, if she wants it.]

I don't think I'd be very good at being friends with someone who isn't a mess. I only get along with other messes. [His smile isn't the bright grin he usually flashes, instead remaining softer and sweeter.]

Now, no more apologies.

〈 not gwen, but something originating from her, slaps his palm, and wraps around his wrist. upon closer look, the mass seems made up hundreds of tiny black spiders that form a bridge between gwen and wei wuxian.

gwen snorts. 〉

Guess you're pulling both of us. Ride on, cowboy.

[He looks down at the mass and grins, stroking a finger playfully across the wriggling mass. He hasn't forgotten about you, Spiders. After giving both of them one more lingering look of fondness, he starts swimming again.

The next couple of days go by in relative peace. They struggle with a few more strong currents and thankfully don't get pulled too far off track. Things have been going well for a while when he pauses in the water, his brow furrowed. He isn't great about sensing changes in the current, but there's a big enough shift in it that even he can tell something feels off.]

Do you feel that?

〈 behind him, gwen presses her fingers to her temple. she makes a face. 〉

Yep. Spider-sense been going off.

〈 loving the portent of doom with no clear explanation or rationale as to why. very greek tragedy. especially appreciative of the alarm in her head for which she cannot find the snooze button.

they are near to the surface. the water has grown brighter around them as sunlight reaches these depths. they have also stumbled on more animals: brightly colored fish, the occasional shark, weaving plants and rows of coral. none of which really sports a great danger. definitely not enough of one for her to have spider-sense playing in stereo. even the shark, a great white scarred from previous fights, has vanished.

before she can start pleading with an actual sense to give her a clue, the ocean grants her one. her ears pick up a familiar pulsed call, and she understands immediately why the shark opted to peace out.

mouth dropping open, she smacks wei wuxian on the shoulder suddenly enough to startle, half bringing him around. her other hand claps over her mouth.

like a little kid spotting santa claus, she gasps, 〉 Killer whales!

〈 —and just as quickly her ecstatic joy packs its bags and leaps off her face along with all color as she realizes she and wei wuxian are not, safely, on a boat or even look very human presently. staring in the direction of the calls, her eyes grow very, very round. 〉

Those are killer whales.

〈 a different sound reaches her ears: the even more familiar whistles that comprise the whales' short distance, private communication. dark shapes appear out of the deep.

gwen blinks out of sight. 〉

Edited 2022-09-11 21:43 (UTC)

[The excitement followed immediately by her sharp change in tone isn't enough to worry him. If anything, he finds himself fondly amused. Gwen absolutely peacing out without any warning, however, has him letting out a soft yelp and then quickly tracing out an invisibility array on his chest. (He can still feel her hand at least, and knows she didn't actually abandon him to be eaten by something that literally has the word "killer" in its name.]

Gwen! [He yells—quietly, because her disappearance has maybe filled him with a little bit of concern.]

What is it? Should I be worried?

〈 she is no louder when she hisses back, 〉 What do you mean, "what is it?" Killer whales. Killer whales.

〈 because clearly repetition will answer his question. on the very off chance that this is not, in fact, enough information, the pod comes close enough that animals' distinctive black-and-white patterns become clear.

gwen quickly counts ten. eight adults, one that she assumes to be a juvenile based on its size, and one very obvious baby that sticks close to what can only be its mother. they whistle to one another, the sound almost playful. despite spider-sense refusing to go off, gwen follows their easy movement through the water with a childlike glee. they are stunning animals, made more stunning still to see them thriving in their habitat.

yet she does not let go of wei wuxian, and her hand pushes him further away from the pod. invisible as he is, she manages to find his ear. 〉

Those are the most intelligent creatures in the world, 〈 she whispers in explanation. 〉 Impeccable teamwork. And they like to play with their food. Which we currently resemble. So. Let's not make them curious.

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